In recent days, an appeal was filed in the case involving Diane Alice Dent and Walter Leroy Watkins in Pennsylvania that may see the litigation move to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In March, the Pennsylvania Superior Court overturned a ruling that found poker to be predominantly a game of skill and therefore not illegal gambling under state law.
According to the filing, in July and August of 2008, an undercover police officer played in Watkins’ and Dent’s home game, which was housed in their one-car garage in Bloomsburg. Dent served as the dealer of the Texas Hold’em game, while Watkins played alongside his guests. No rake was taken. Instead, “this was a recreational game at which the players were playing for money.”
The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has been intricately involved in the case. Its Executive Director, John Pappas, told Poker News Daily why the Superior Court may have ruled that poker is not a game of skill: “The judges did not look at what was presented before them, but rather looked at other court cases in other states that said poker is a game of chance. They didn’t take into account any of the most recent academic studies and legal victories.” The PPA boasts 54,000 members in Pennsylvania.
The appeal cites testimony from the trial court that covered the edge players could have by knowing hand strengths, identifying opportunities to bluff, mastering odds, and deciphering live tells. Even an attorney for the prosecution admitted during testimony, “[a] superior player playing [poker] at the same group of time with players less experienced than he should do better.” In March, however, the Superior Court ruled by a 2:1 margin that chance instead predominates over skill in Texas Hold’em. Judge Robert Freedberg wrote the majority opinion, while Kate Ford Elliott also agreed.
In the Superior Court ruling, the majority opinion read in part, “The states are divided as to whether Texas Hold’em is gambling,” alluding to court cases in other states, as Pappas noted. The appeal cites the now-famous study conducted by Cigital and PokerStars, which revealed that three-quarters of Texas Hold’em cash game hands are settled before showdown, meaning that the process of betting and bluffing predominantly determines the outcome.
The appeal cites cases in North Carolina and South Carolina. Pappas relayed his frustration with the Superior Court’s ruling: “There was no evidence presented at all that demonstrated that poker was a game of chance except for a trooper’s testimony, which is by no means an expert witness. Beyond that, there was so much evidence that demonstrated the opposite.” Watkins and Dent are card-carrying members of the PPA, which has established a Litigation Network to match poker players with pre-qualified local counsel.
In January, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed a major gambling expansion bill into law. The measure paved the way for the introduction of table games like poker, blackjack, and roulette, purportedly pumping a quarter of a billion dollars into the economy according to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. The bill aids racetracks, which can add 250 gaming tables, and casino resorts. Whether political pressure from the gambling movement affected the judicial process for Watkins and Dent remains to be seen.
The Northeastern United States has become a hotbed of casino competition. The area has seen Pennsylvania and Delaware seek to expand their gambling footprints, while a move to bring legalized sports betting to New Jersey has also taken flight. Massive casinos like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun dominate the landscape, while revenues in Atlantic City have consistently declined year over year given the alternatives. Recently, New Hampshire Governor said he’d consider legalizing internet gambling.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from Pennsylvania.
